Born on October 2, 1791 as Benedetta Cambiagio in Campomorone , Italy was Saint Benedicta Cambiagio Frassinello. At age 20 she had a profound mystical experience which left her devoted to prayer and desiring a religious life. But she went with her family's wishes and married Giovanni Battista Frassinella in 1816. The lived a normal married life for two years, but Giovanni was impressed with his wife's holiness and desire for religious life. The couple took care of her little sister until she died from cancer in 1825. Giovanni joined the Somaschan Fathers and Benedetta became an Ursuline nun.
Benedicta's started to grow ill in 1826 and she returned home and she began to work with other young women in the area. The work was going so well that her husband was assigned to help. The schools continued to grow and prosper and Sister Benedicta was appointed Promoter of Public Instruction. Even though they lived a chaste life, the unusual relationship developed into gossip from civil and Church authorities. To make sure she did not get in the way of the work, in 1838 Benedicta turned the work over to the bishop and went to live as a nun in Ronco Scrivia.
She did not want to withdraw from the world and start over again, she and five companions founded the Congregation of the Benedictine Sisters of Providence who are dedicated to teaching and they opened another school. She lived alone and the authorities did not have cause for gossip, and Benedicta spend the rest of her life in prayer and service. She died on March 21, 1858 in Ronco Scrivia of natural causes. She was canonized on May 19, 2002 by Pope John Paul II in Rome.
I have her relic under my custody and I'm a public school teacher
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